‘Frustration is beyond imagination’ – Alonso reflects on missed opportunity for Aston Martin in Mexico City GP Qualifying

Fernando Alonso has stated that his “frustration is beyond imagination” after a power unit problem brought the Aston Martin driver’s Qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix to an early end.

Alonso was robbed of the chance to show what he could do by a painful power unit issue early in Q1 after what had been a reliable weekend for him up to that point, with the team explaining a suspected water pressure issue linked to the ERS system was the cause.

The Spaniard finished Friday’s Free Practice 2 session in P12, just 0.769s off the pacesetting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, a margin that suggested that he was very much in the midfield fight.

Alonso put in a good first lap to top the times in the opening minutes of the session but then received an urgent radio message from the Aston Martin pit wall to stop the car, which he did just short of the pit lane entrance before visibly showing his frustration.

“It was 100 metres away from the garage, but probably the problem was bigger than anything possible to do in the garage,” he said.

“So yeah, the safest thing for everyone else also on track was to stop – and I followed the instruction.”

Asked if he’d been optimistic after that strong Friday showing, the two-time World Champion replied with: “I was…”

However, that didn’t quite extend to a place in Q3 being a realistic possibility, although a decent result was lost.

“Probably difficult, but [in practice] we were P12, P13, P11, so we were in the window. If we put a good lap, maybe it was possible, but I think that was probably too optimistic. Maybe P13, P12 was our position today.”

Mexico has proved better suited to the AMR26 package compared to other tracks than had been anticipated, and Alonso said there was a simple reason.

“Less straights. There are two straights only into [Turn] 1, into 4. The rest, with the level of grip so low, you hardly can go full throttle, so there is less power sensitivity here. So it was maybe because of that.”

The experienced Spaniard is pessimistic about the chances of making progress from P18 on the grid at a track where running in traffic is notoriously challenging.

“Huge problems with temperatures for everybody,” he said. “When you start at the back, there is no way you can follow cars closely, or something like that.

“So, there is not much we can do – and I think we lost a big opportunity. So frustration is beyond imagination. But this is the story of the year.”